BAY MINETTE — As the date for the penny tax referendum approaches, the Baldwin County Public School System and North Baldwin Coalition for Excellence in Education are making a push to get information out to parents and residents.

An information meeting will be  March 9, at 6 p.m. at the Bay Minette Middle School gym. Speakers at the meeting will include Lester Smith, BCBOE human resource department director; Tracy Roberts, BCBOE board president; and Bob Wills, BCBOE district 2 board member.

"The meeting was born out of the request for information from our community and is jointly sponsored by NBCEE through the Parents for a Penny coalition," Janice Simon, curriculum and instructional coach at Baldwin County High School, said.

She said the meeting will include information specific to the North Baldwin feeder pattern.

"We hope that individuals will walk away with a clearer understanding of the ramifications of their vote. It will be a time to address how we got here and what the future may hold for our children," she said.

BMMS Principal Tammie Fleming said the meeting will also give venue for local principals and teachers to give information on how the tax will affect their individual schools.

"The parent meeting on March 9 is an opportunity for our parents to hear from every North Baldwin principal and school board representatives on how our North Baldwin Schools will be affected if the tax referendum does not pass," she said.

She said not only will more jobs be lost, but many programs are in jeopardy as well.

"Many programs and extra-curricular activities such as after-school tutoring, math and reading intervention classes, Scholars' Bowl, Science Olympiad, Art, Band, Spelling Bee, Dance Team, Cheerleading, National Junior Honor Society, Environmental Club, Technology Student Association, the newspaper, et cetera, could be eliminated without teachers to sponsor such events," she said.

Fleming said the goal of the meeting is to accurately inform voters.

"If our parents hear from us on a more personal level, our parents will want to vote yes because they'll better understand what our children will be missing if additional revenue is not generated to keep our teachers employed," she said.

Fleming said most of the parents she has spoken to are supporting the new tax, but said it is the rest she would like to see at the meeting.

"Most parents I've spoken with are supporting the 3-year-tax. It's those parents I haven't heard from or spoken to personally that I want to extend a special invitation to our meeting March 9," she said.